without even a shade of sternness or of priestly arrogance; neither could any one fancy that he was speaking professionally, or merely in accordance with a sort of habit that some clergymen seem to think belongs to a black coat and white neckcloth. A farmer on the top of the coach, who had been listening to the conversation, now joined in. "Ah," said he, "what your reverence says is true enough. I live over there, beyond the hills, at Broadlands. Now, last week, there was our Duke, one of the richest men in all the country; he had his hunters, and his deer, and his game, and he went to court, and sat at the King's table, and everybody called him, as it was their dooty to do, 'Your grace!' Now, this week, his house, and his park, and his servants, and his money, belong to another man— that's his heir. He is stiff and cold, and all alone in one of his grand rooms, and in a day or two they'll carry him to the grave; and his fine funeral and a handsome coffin 'll be all the grandeur that he can have now, and that's nothing to him, I guess; his body's just dust and ashes, like any beggar's might be when the life was gone out of him, and his spirit's gone where they don't think nothing about such things as we fancy is grand and stately; and in a hundred years' time, if they dig up his bones, they'll never know whether they belonged to a duke or a street-sweeper. It's very true what the burial service says, and it must be true, for it's out of the Bible-the Bible, I reckon, counts before the Prayer-book-' we brought nothing into

this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.' Ah, it's a different sort of riches we want then. I hope our poor Duke had some of that treasure that is laid up where moth and rust cannot corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal; that was our parson's text, a fortnight ago come next Sunday, and mighty fine he was."

There was no time for further conversation, for the coach was ready to start, and the clergyman, with a bow of cordial assent to what the farmer had said, stepped in and took his seat opposite to me. We were no sooner in motion again than he began to talk, not exactly on religious subjects, but in such a way that I could see that religion was really uppermost in his heart. Everything seemed referable and subservient to the "one thing needful;" and if he told me an anecdote of rustic life, or a legend of the olden times, there was an indefinable something all through the narration, which betrayed the speaker's innermost thought. It was something quite new to me. It was the key-note of a tune I had never heard, and could not sing; it was the music of a melodious, but unknown tongue. There is a song on earth, as well as in heaven, that none but the redeemed can learn.

I had an Italian book by my side, and my new acquaintance took it up, and seemed rather surprised to find that I could really appreciate the beauties of the sweet Lingua Toscana; and then we had a talk about foreign literature, and the great masters

in the world of art, and I enjoyed the conversation extremely, and hoped I should keep my clerical friend to the end of the long journey. But presently he rather hurt my silly, girlish vanity; he gave me to understand that he supposed I was going back to school after the vacation; and I did not like being taken for a school-girl, for I was dressed like a young lady, and I felt that my education was finished. Poor, senseless Millicent Kendrick! I can only say, in extenuation of my silliness, that I was at a foollish and self-important age-an age when one is too apt to lay claim to all the prerogatives and considerations due to womankind, while yet holding pertinaciously to the crude, unformed, shallow notions of mere girlhood. Well, one ought not to be hard upon the conceit and presumption of youth; everybody was seventeen once; and perhaps those who speak most slightingly of the judgment and actions of the young, were the veriest simpletons in their own juvenile days. There is a common, vulgar saying, very trying to one's youthful sense of dignity-"Young folks think old folks are fools; but old folks know that young folks are fools." Very uncomplimentary, indeed, and slightly irritating to any but the most wisely regulated minds; but why are the "old folks so sure of the foolishness of their juniors? Why, because they were the juniors once themselves; and they know now that they were but simpletons, in spite of their imagined wisdom. So let us bear and forbear, and not be too hard upon the beardless youth, who takes upon himself to set us right, and

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can hardly conceal his contempt of our old-world notions; let him alone, and don't despise him in your heart; perhaps you are a little prejudiced; and some day or other he will look back on his twentieth birthday, and smile at his own impertinences, and call himself a puppy; and some one, two score years younger than himself, will laugh at him in his turn, and hold his opinion very cheap. And do not feel quite disgusted with the young lady there, who has done with the school-room, and is just "coming out" in her little circle, or her large circle, as the case may be. Have patience with her, as she sits there in her long sleeves, and long skirts, and crinoline, giving her opinions with an air of decision and superiority that might become her mamma. She, too, will be wiser before she is twenty; women come to their senses sooner than men; though whether, as a whole, they are ever as sagacious as the sterner sex is another question-a vexed question, too; and we will leave it alone, remarking, however, that there is authority for the woman learning in silence, with all subjection. Let us act upon the advice of

the poet

"Deal gently with the young, for they

Will have enough to bear;

Pass through this life as best they may,

They'll find it full of care."

There now, I have written quite a sermon to the elders; the young ones shall have it in their turn, when opportunity offers; and when I lecture them, I will try to remember that I was once Miss Millicent

Kendrick, aged seventeen. If I can only remember that, I shall not be severe, or starchy, or out of all patience with their little airs, and amusing selfdelusions. I dare say all the young people who read this are wiser and better than I was "in my first youth;" for I here avow and confess, with contrition and shame-facedness, that I was very, very foolish; that with all my knowledge I lacked wisdom; and of "the beginning of wisdom-the fear of the Lord"-I knew nothing at all.

Well, I determined Mr. Clarenham should not think I was going to school again; so I told him plainly I was going to Lunechester to reside with my aunt, and that she went a great deal into society. He made some remark, I know not what now, that made me think he considered "society" in no very favourable light. I said pertly enough, "There's no harm in going into society if one attends to one's religious duties."

He smiled kindly, and replied, "Certainly not; you have stated the case exactly; but the question is, whether one can go frequently into 'society,' as you understand it, and at the same time give due attention to religious duties-you do not agree with me?"

"No, sir. I think life was made to be enjoyed ; and we have no need to be gloomy and austere. I can go to parties and balls, and picnics, in the week, and yet attend church twice on the Sabbath; and of course no respectable person would think of omitting morning and evening devotions."